There is a legend regarding a mysterious drip of water which apparently comes from the upper masonry of the tower, and which it is said will continue as long as there is an heir to the chieftainship of O’Donovan.

CASTLE KEVIN, COUNTY CORK

The castle originally belonged to the O’Keeffs, from which, no doubt, the name is derived. Their territory being seized, was given to the Anglo-Norman family of de Rupe, or Roche, and in 1583 David and Maurice Fitz John Roch are mentioned as of Castlekevin.

Cromwell’s troops besieged and took the castle for the Commonwealth, tradition stating that the soldiers placed the late owner’s head on a lance over the “Bell Gate,” near the present stables.

The castle was then granted to Sir Richard Thornhill, who also possessed considerable property in the neighbourhood by purchase, so that the estate was about 10,000 acres in extent in the counties of Cork and Limerick.

The Thornhills occupied the castle until 1853, when it was sold in the Encumbered Estates Court, and the building was purchased by Mr. E. Reeves.

CASTLE KEVIN, COUNTY WICKLOW

The castle was built of rubble stone and excellent mortar, which is shown by the huge blocks of the walls which still lie round the foundations.

The Archbishops held courts and exercised jurisdiction here through their officers, and had their own gallows.

In 1277-78 the Treasurer’s account for the year contains £60 to John de Saunford for the custody of the new castle of Mackinegan and Castle Keyvin. The stronghold was often used by the Archbishops as a hunting-lodge, the woods around being well stocked with deer. It was also strongly garrisoned.

At the beginning of the next century (1308) the Viceroy Wogan marched against the O’Tooles, but was defeated with the loss of several knights. Castle Kevin was captured and the garrison killed, while the towns near were sacked and plundered.

Later Piers de Gaveston successfully subdued the rising, and made a thanksgiving offering at the Church of St. Kevin, Glendalough. The following year he built New Castle in the O’Byrnes’ country and repaired Castle Kevin, at the same time cutting a pass through the woods, from it to Glendalough.

Thirty years later Alexander de Bickner received royal orders to repair his fortifications at Castle Kevin, so that at this time it was still connected with the See of Dublin, but it subsequently passed into royal keeping.

It appears that Henry VIII. by letters patent “made grants to Arte O’Toole and heirs the manor of Castle Kevin and the Farrtree” (hence Vartry) “on conditions they used the English habit, language, education, hostings, aidings, and the like, and that he should keep Castle Kevin in repair as a bulwark against the rebels.”

Phelim O’Toole was the representative of the family in 1591 when Hugh Roe O’Donnell escaped from one of the gate towers of Dublin Castle, where he had been confined as a hostage for over three years.

O’Toole having visited him in prison, as a friend, during this time, he naturally thought he was safe in seeking shelter at Castle Kevin.

Phelim’s loyalty was not, however, above suspicion, and he was divided between his wish to help the young fugitive and fear for his own head. In this difficulty a woman’s wit apparently solved the problem. His sister Rose, wife to the great O’Byrne of Ballinacor, was at Castle Kevin at the time, and she advised him to send a slow messenger to Dublin advising the Lord Deputy of O’Donnell’s arrival, and a fast messenger to her husband in Glenmalure (who was in a state of open rebellion), telling him to come and carry off Hugh before the Government officials arrived.

Phelim followed the advice given, but the “wine-dark” Avonmore becoming flooded the party of rescuers, at once despatched by O’Byrne, could not cross the river, and the King’s men arrived first upon the scene. Whereupon Hugh O’Donnell was escorted back to Dublin, and was confined in the Wardrobe Tower in irons, from which, however, he escaped the following year.

Captain Charles Montague, writing to the Lord Deputy in 1596, states that Feagh M’Hugh O’Byrne had threatened to besiege the castle with three hundred men, and that he had provisioned it for a month. The same year a ward was placed in it during the rebellion, while in 1599 a commander was appointed to the forts of Rathdrome, Castlekeavyn, and Wicklowe, at ten shillings a day.

No doubt the O’Tooles were implicated in the rebellion referred to, for in 1609 we find John Wakeman, who had received the confiscated estate of the O’Tooles, selling Castle Kevin back to Luke (or Feogh) O’Toole. In the deed recording the transaction it is remarked that the castle for some years past “hath been waste and in utter decay.”

An inquisition of 1636 found that the son of Arte O’Toole, to whom the lands were first granted, had gone into rebellion and died, and that his son Feogh O’Toole who represented the family at the time of the inquiry, had bought back Castle Kevin from the man to whom it had been granted after the confiscation of the O’Toole property. Castle Kevin had at this time been uncovered for thirty years, and this was deemed sufficient for forfeiture, as it had been granted on condition that it should be kept in repair.

Accordingly in July of the same year an ordinance was issued by the King taking possession. The castle and lands were then granted to Sir John Coke, Knight, Secretary of State. Dr. Alane Cooke, writing to him from Dublin in August describing his new property, says:—“Castle Kevin, the town where the castle doth stand; this hath a goodly wood, but no great timber and very fine young oaks;” and again:—“Castle Kevin is the fittest place to build the manor, because of the strength. The bawn is very good, very near 20 feet high. All the castle is down and the bounds are very nearly 50 yards square, a fine small river running at the foot of the castle.”

The grant of land consisted of 15,441 acres of all sorts, English measure, 12 miles from Dublin, with a castle called Kevin, and a fine river full of salmon and trout.

It does not appear, however, that Luke O’Toole was easily dislodged, and when Oliver Cromwell left Dublin to march to Wexford in 1649 he proved a source of constant annoyance to the troops. At this time he was encamped at Glenmalure with his four sons, one of whom managed to seize Cromwell’s favourite steed. Its owner offered £100 to Luke for its return, “but for gold or silver he would not give him back, but preferred to keep him as a monument.”

It is said that in revenge for this Cromwell ordered his cannon to level Castle Kevin. Local tradition supports this statement by pointing out a furze-covered rath from which the castle is supposed to have been shelled by Ludlow, while the blocks of adhering masonry round the foundations are unlike the crumbling of age alone.

Against this it is remarked that Castle Kevin does not appear in the list of Leinster castles reduced by Cromwell. This, however, might be accounted for from the fact that (as it appears) only a part of the castle walls were standing at the time, and that its final destruction had no strategical value, but was merely private revenge for the theft of a horse, and so was not recorded.

Luke O’Toole was afterwards captured and executed.

The land upon which the remains of the castle stand is now in the possession of the Rev. Charles Frizell, who also owns the modern manor house of Castle Kevin, some quarter of a mile distant, on a hill above the ancient building.

CASTLE SALEM

The fortress is generally supposed to have been erected by the O’Donovans, but it is also ascribed to the Lady Catherine Fitzgerald, daughter of Thomas, 8th Earl of Desmond, and sister-in-law to the long-lived Countess. This would place its building at the later end of the fifteenth century. There are various legends told about “the black lady” in connection with Benduff, and they may refer to the above Geraldine.

Later the castle belonged to the M’Carthys, and at the time of the Commonwealth confiscation it was in the possession of one Florence M’Carty.

The estate was granted to Major Apollo Morris, an officer in Cromwell’s army, during the seventeenth century, and upon the restoration of Charles II. he retained his lands through the interest of the King’s secretary, to whom he was related.

The grant was preserved in the castle until the middle of the nineteenth century, when Mr. William Morris sent it to a Cork bookseller for publication, and it was lost through the failure of the firm.

Major Morris was succeeded by William Morris, who was an intimate friend of the great William Penn.

On the right-hand side of the avenue is an old Quaker burial-ground, which was established by him, and to which “Friends’” funerals came from all parts of Cork. He was himself interred there, but against all the rules of the order a tomb was erected to his memory, which may still be seen, and after that the Quakers ceased to bring their dead to Benduff for interment.

The property passed from the possession of the Morris family into that of the Fitzgibbons.

CLOGHAN CASTLE

It was destroyed in 1548 for fear it might fall into the hands of the English, but it must have been afterwards restored, as in 1595 Sir William Russell, Lord Deputy, laid siege to it. A quaint account of the taking of the castle is given in a journal of the time which is, no doubt, accurate in the main.

It appears O’Madden was absent “in rebellion,” but he had garrisoned the castle with his chief men.

The Lord Deputy arrived on Thursday, 11th of March, and upon his approach the garrison set alight three of their houses near the castle, and opened fire on the troops, wounding two soldiers and a boy.

When surrender was demanded they replied to Captain Lea that even if every soldier was a Deputy they would hold out.

Captain Izod was detailed to see none of them escaped by the bog. Sir William visited the watch at midnight, and hearing there were women in the castle sent the garrison word that he would begin the attack next morning with fire and sword, and told them to send the women away, but they refused.

In the morning one of the soldiers threw a fire brand on the thatched roof of the castle, which set it alight, and at the same time a bonfire was lighted at the door, which smothered many of the inmates. A breach was soon made in the walls, and those who had not been suffocated were hurled over the battlements.

Forty-six persons were killed, two women and a boy being alone saved by the Deputy’s command. Most of the garrison were O’Maddens, but a Captain M’Coleghan and his two sons were also amongst the slain.

Some accounts give the number executed as 140.

The O’Madden’s territory was forfeited after the rebellion of 1641, and in 1683 Cloghan was granted to Garrett Moore, who claimed to be descended from Rory Oge O’Moore, Chief of Leix.

His almanac, or diary, was found in the castle, dated 1699. It contains entries of lead got for repairing the fortress. It also records methods of making expanding bullets and noiseless powder, as well as other strange information.

After the battle of Aughrim troops from Birr took possession of the castle, and it was garrisoned under the command of Lieutenant Archibald Armstrong.

In the middle of last century it was purchased by Dr. Graves, and is at present in the possession of his descendant, Robert Kennedy Crogan Graves, Esq.

CROM CASTLE

The Rev. George Hill states that the castle was built by Butler and Balfour at great expense, so it is likely to have been added to after it changed hands.

In 1629 another inquisition describes it as “One bawne of stone and lime, containing 61 feet every way and 15 feet in height; and within the same is one castle, or capital messuage, built in like manner of lime and stone containing 22 feet each way.”

Crum was leased to Dr. James Spottiswood, Bishop of Clogher, in 1624.

It must for a short time after this have been possessed by the M’Manuses, who offered it for sale at £100 and 100 cows. Among the State Papers of 1646 is preserved Sir William Cole’s petition to the Commissioners to be advanced £160, so that he might become the purchaser. He promises to return the money if unsuccessful, and says it is the only hold the rebels have in the country and “a place of good strength.” The money appears to have been sent.

We find, however, in 1645, that it is mentioned in Bishop Spottiswood’s will, and through his daughter marrying Colonel Abraham Creichton the leasehold passed to that family.

It was afterwards converted into a perpetuity, subject to a small head rent, which was bought out by the Earl of Erne in 1810 from Brinsley, 4th Earl of Lanesborough, a descendant of Francis Butler.

In the struggle for the Crown between James and William, Crum was twice unsuccessfully besieged.

It was a place of considerable importance, as it commanded the waterway between Enniskillen and Belturbet.

The first attempt was made in March, 1689.

Colonel Abraham Creichton, although an old man, had fortified the castle and garrisoned it with his tenants and retainers. Lord Galmoy arrived at Belturbet with a considerable force belonging to King James’s army, but found the roads so boggy as to be impassable for cannon. He therefore decided to make some mock guns by which to frighten the garrison into submission.

They were manufactured out of tin, measured about a yard long and 8 inches in the bore. They were bound together with fine cord twisted round them, and the whole covered with a kind of buckram to represent the colour of a real cannon.

To this sham artillery sixteen horses were harnessed and they were brought to Crum with a great show of difficulty and much apparent urging of the animals.

As soon as they were within ordinary range of the fortress Lord Galmoy demanded its surrender, and upon being refused he tried to fire one of his fraudulent guns with a wooden bullet, but it burst and nearly killed the gunner.

He then began a systematic siege and sent messengers to Enniskillen to demand that garrison’s surrender too.

The governor of the town at once despatched two hundred firelocks to relieve the castle of Crum. Some were sent by water and some by land during the night, but daylight had arrived before they reached their destination.

The besiegers opposed their landing, but nevertheless they forced their way into the castle with the loss of only one boatman, while Lord Galmoy’s party lost several.

A sally was at once made from the fortress, and the besiegers were driven from their trenches with a loss of thirty or forty men, and the garrison captured the mock guns and took two suits of armour and several other valuable things.

Lord Galmoy then retreated to Belturbet.

Colonel Creichton’s son David, then a lad of eighteen, greatly distinguished himself during the conflict.

Although the castle was unprovided with cannon, great execution was done by the long fowling-pieces generally used for wild fowl on the lake.

Lord Galmoy was standing on a hill about an English mile distant from the castle, with a glass of wine in his hand, which he was about to drink to the confusion of the garrison, when a fowler from the fortress shattered the glass he was raising and killed the man beside him.

At this time a Captain MacGuire was prisoner at Crum, and Lord Galmoy proposed to Colonel Creichton to exchange Captain Dixey for him. This was agreed to, but when MacGuire was sent, Lord Galmoy, instead of returning Dixey, had him hanged with a cornet named Charleton.

Captain MacGuire was so disgusted with the treachery that he returned to Crum and threw up his commission in James’s army.

Lord Galmoy also enticed Colonel Creichton to a parley, and would have put him to death, too, had not Lord Mountcashel rescued the old man and conducted him safely back to his castle.

The following year Crum was again besieged, and Colonel Creichton sent an urgent message to Enniskillen to say that the besiegers had brought cannon with them. The next day he sent another message saying that Lieutenant-General MacCarthy had begun to batter the fortress.

This was Monday, and Colonel Wolseley returned answer that they should be relieved on Wednesday, and in the meantime he despatched orders for reinforcements to Ballyshannon.

A strong detachment set out, therefore, from Enniskillen to the castle’s relief, but upon their approach the enemy withdrew to Newtownbutler, where a great engagement was fought that shattered the cause of James II. in the north of Ireland. The garrison of Crum Castle greatly distinguished themselves in this engagement.

The David Creichton, who was eighteen at the time of the siege, finally succeeded his nephew in the estate. He left an only son, who was created Lord Erne, and it was in his lifetime that the castle was burnt.

A letter from Lord Shannon, dated September 1, 1764, is still in the family’s possession, in which he condoles with his kinsman for the destruction of his castle. “Unhappy indeed to be consumed by a few accidental sparks of fire when it had so bravely withstood the firing of 6,000 men so many years ago.”

To the south of the fortress along the side of the lake lay the castle gardens, in the centre of which still grows a magnificent yew-tree, under which tradition records an O’Neill and his lady-love parted in the reign of Oueen Elizabeth upon the former being attainted for high treason.

Henry, however, writing in 1739, says it was only planted about seventy years previously. It is 25 feet in height, while the trunk is 12 feet in girth. The circumference of the branches is 120 feet.

It was the custom for many years for sportsmen on the lake to fire a salute when passing the ruined fortress, which produced a most wonderful echo, as if the shot had been answered by a volley.

DOE CASTLE

Dr. Allman believes it dates from about the beginning of Henry VIII.’s reign, and tradition states that Doe passed to the MacSweenys in the fifteenth century, when a peace was concluded between O’Neill and O’Donnell in 1440.

Red Hugh O’Donnell lived at Doe Castle with his foster father, Owen Oge MacSweeny, and it was while in his care that he was kidnapped at Rathmullen by Sir John Perrott in 1588.

Sir Hugh MacSwine na Oge, surnamed the Red, was one of Queen Elizabeth’s chief favourites, and a polished courtier. Very different, however, was the last of the MacSwines who occupied Doe Castle. This was Sir Miles MacSweeny of the Club, who was knighted by Oueen Elizabeth, and about whom tales of great brutality are recorded.

He was called “of the club” from his bludgeoning the better classes of his clan to death with his own hand if they offended him, while the poorer ones he consigned to a retainer called Furey and his satellites to hang from the castle walls.

A legend is told of how his beautiful daughter, Eileen, fell in love with Turlogh Oge, son of The O’Boyle, against her father’s wish. The lovers used to meet on the beach and in the woods near the castle. Her father discovered their trysts and confined her to the fortress under the care of a worthy matron. The young people were thus reduced to signalling to each other—the maiden from the battlements, and her lover from his canoe in the bay. This became known to The MacSweeny, and with two boats of armed men he waylaid the young man and a few retainers on their way back from Lackagh, and brought them prisoners to the castle.

Here he starved them to death, and as the bodies were being carried to the graveyard the fair Eileen saw and recognised her lover. She never recovered the shock and grief, and not long afterwards she was found dead on the top of one of the castle towers.

Fishermen say that the spirits of the ill-fated pair haunt the bay, and by moonlight a phantom skiff may sometimes be seen skimming the waters containing the two ghostly lovers.

The castle was included in a grant of lands made by James I. to the Earl of Tyrconnell.

In 1607 it was seized by Caffer O’Donnell and Neale M’Swine with some followers. These young discontents alleged as their reason an old grievance against the Earl, who was given authority by the Lord Deputy and Council to march against them.

Accordingly Sir Richard Handson, the Earl, and Sir Neale O’Donnell arrived before the stronghold, when some of the offenders submitted, and some were taken and hanged. Sir Neale O’Donnell was badly hurt in the fray.

In the State Papers Sir Arthur Chichester advises that the troublesome youths should be given grants of lands as the best way of making them peaceful subjects. It is also recommended that the castle should be garrisoned by the King’s men.

The latter was evidently done, as shortly afterwards the Earl of Tyrconnell lodged a complaint against Captain Brook and his men being quartered in the castle with privileges, after he (the Earl) had in person expelled the discontents.

The following year (1608) Doe was again lost to the English in the rebellion of Sir Cahir O’Doherty. It was in charge of a man named Vaughan and six warders, when a cowherd and a friar arriving with the tale that a body of wolves had set upon the cattle, they easily managed to draw six of them from the stronghold, who were at once killed, and the castle seized and garrisoned for the enemy.

A party was organised to retake it, and in the encounter with the rebels Sir Cahir was killed.

The castle was captured by Sir Oliver Lambert, and it was said to be “the strongest hold in all the province, which endured a hundred blows of the demi-cannon before it yielded.”

Captain Elling was then appointed constable, and £76 13s. 4d. was granted him towards repairing the damage done by the cannon in the siege.

At this time it had a garrison of fifty men.

Sir Richard Bingley was appointed constable in 1610, and at the same time received a grant of land in the county. After this there seems to have been a succession of constables until it was captured by the Irish in 1641. Owen Roe O’Neill landed here the following year from Dunkirk, and, being met by Sir Phelim O’Neill with other chiefs and one thousand five hundred men, proceeded to Ballyshannon.

In 1646 Quartermaster Harrison asked for the possession of the castle, which the enemy had deserted, and offered to garrison and maintain it with thirty warders.

Sir Charles Coot captured it in 1650, and Colonel Miles M’Sweeny tried to retake it the same year.

The Harrisons sold it to the Harte family during the eighteenth century.

General Harte was present at the battle of Seringapatam, and the capture of Tippoo Sahib, whose servant was also taken prisoner at the same time, and afterwards came to Ireland with General Harte.

He lived at Doe Castle, and was devotedly attached to his new master. He always wore his native dress, and is reported to have slept fully armed on a mat at the General’s door.

He did not long survive his master, the General meeting with a sad death by falling down the stairway leading to the tower.

Cannon captured at Seringapatam were mounted on the lawn of the castle.

The Hartes subsequently let Doe to a Mr. Maddison, but it remained in the possession of the family until 1866, when it was purchased by Mr. Ards.

The history of Doe Castle is not altogether as clear on many points as could be wished, for the authorities seem to be greatly confused over many important points.

DRIMNAGH CASTLE

The lands were confirmed to his brother in 1221, and they remained in his descendants’ possession for four hundred years.

In 1435 Wolfran Barnewall had licence to entail his estates, and in 1613 the family leased the castle to Sir Adam Loftus, a nephew of the Archbishop, with the reservation that no timber was to be cut.

Some time later a Peter Barnewall succeeded to the property, and he was unwilling to renew Sir Adam’s lease, whereupon that gentleman endeavoured with some members of the Barnewall family to prevent his inheriting the estate, and proceeded at the same time to cut down the great trees which surrounded the fortress. After much litigation the King at length intervened on behalf of Barnewall, and Sir Adam was restrained from doing any more damage.

In 1649, after the battle of Rathmines, the Duke of Ormond seriously contemplated fortifying Drimnagh and making it his headquarters, but he was dissuaded by General Purcell.

Colonel Nicholas Walker, a Cromwellian officer, lived in the castle after the Restoration. It was said that he was present on the scaffold at the execution of Charles I. with his face covered by a vizor. The Hearth Money Returns of 1664 state that Drimnagh was occupied by “Lt.-Col. ——,” and had three “smooks” or chimneys.

In 1841 the fortress was the property of the Marquis of Lansdowne. It was one of the castles of the Pale, and the scene of Mr. R. D. Joyce’s romance entitled “The Rose of Drimnagh” is laid there.

Until lately it was inhabited by Mrs. Mylott, but it is now empty.

DUBLIN CASTLE

The grant consisted of 300 marks, which was owed to the King by G. Fitz-Robert, and there are no records to show whether FitzHenry ever collected the debt, or even began the castle in the three years afterwards for which he held office. It seems to be a very general opinion that the castle was built about 1220 by Henry Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, either at his own expense, or that he advanced the money as a loan. A State paper, however, dated 1217, grants the Archbishop two cantreds without Dublin for damage done to his churches in fortifying the castle, and later there are many entries regarding compensation to be paid in money to Henry Loundres in lieu of land which had been encroached upon when extending the fortifications.

In 1242 an entry records that the windows of St. Edward’s Chapel belonging to the castle were to be glazed, and divine service held. This building seems to have been outside the fortress walls, on the site of the present Chapel Royal which was erected in 1814. In 1243 a hall was to be built 120 feet long and 80 feet wide. It was to have glazed windows, with a round one at the gable end 30 feet in diameter.

The entrance to the castle was by a drawbridge on the north side, the site now being occupied by the gate to the Upper Castle Yard. This bridge was flanked by two towers, and defended by a portcullis, and later by ordnance as well. From the gate towers, often used as State prisons, a high curtain or wall extended east and west. In the westward direction it joined what in later years was known as Cork Tower, because it was rebuilt by the great Earl of Cork in 1629, it having fallen in 1624, and been only partly restored. He spent £408 on it.

From this the wall was continued south to the Birmingham Tower, which is said to have derived its name from its having been erected either by John Birmingham, Earl of Louth, Lord Justice 1321, or Walter Birmingham, who held office in 1348. It is more likely, however, that this tower is identical with that known as the high tower, and that it received the name Birmingham after William Birmingham and his son Walter had been imprisoned there in 1331, otherwise the fortress would have been incomplete prior to 1321, and the side with least natural defence unprotected. From Birmingham Tower the curtain extended eastward (intersected by two smaller towers) to Wardrobe Tower. From this the wall was continued northward to the Store Tower near Dame’s Gate, which was in its turn connected with the eastern gate tower. There were two sallyports in the wall.

Of the eight towers which once protected the fortress only the Wardrobe Tower now remains, often erroneously called Birmingham Tower. This, as its name implies, is where the royal robe, cap of maintenance, and other furniture of state were kept. The sword of state is still preserved there, and also the records which were removed from Birmingham Tower. The lower portion is the original masonry, but an upper storey was added when the Chapel Royal was built. The Birmingham Tower was rendered unsafe by an explosion of gunpowder in Ship Street and had to be taken down. A lighter structure was erected on the site, which contains the present kitchen and viceregal supper-room. The other towers were gradually removed to make room for new buildings.

The Anglo-Irish used to decorate the gate and walls of the castle with the heads of the slain, and in 1316 some four hundred heads were sent from Wicklow for this purpose.

The castle did not become a permanent residence of the Viceroy until 1560 by order of Elizabeth, and in 1565 Henry Sydney took up his abode in it. He also enlarged and beautified it, and placed the State papers there in safe keeping.

The castle has stood several successful sieges. In 1478 Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, was superseded as Lord Deputy by Lord Grey of Codnor. He refused to resign, and Keating, Prior of Kilmainham, and Constable of the Castle, sided with him, and fortified the stronghold against the new Deputy. He destroyed the drawbridge, and Lord Grey, finding his numbers too small to force an entrance, returned to England, and Kildare was shortly afterwards reinstated.

Again, in 1534, young Lord Offaly, known as “Silken Thomas” from the splendour of his horses’ trappings, hearing a false report that his father had been treacherously executed in England, returned the Sword of State to the Council, which he held as Deputy in the Earl of Kildare’s absence, and commenced hostilities against the castle.

It is said the citizens readily admitted him within the walls of Dublin. His chief attack was from Ship Street, but the Constable of the castle getting the thatched houses there set on fire, the besiegers fell back into Thomas Street.

Lord Offaly having been obliged to commence hostilities against Ossary, the siege was not carried on with much heart. Many of the arrows sent into the castle were headless, and others bore letters saying some of the besiegers were really in sympathy with the King’s party.

Upon the rumour of help from England, the citizens closed the gates and made prisoners of the attackers.

Lord Thomas hurried back, and at once laid siege to the city itself, but his force was too small to have any effect.

As he had seized the Dublin children who had been sent to outlying villages on account of the plague, the citizens agreed to liberate his party if the little ones were restored. This was done, and shortly afterwards aid from England quelled the rebellion.

Several exciting escapes have been made by prisoners from the castle. In 1587 Hugh O’Donnell was confined in one of the gate towers for three years, when he and a companion managed to escape on to the drawbridge by a rope. He was, however, treacherously sent back to Dublin by O’Toole of Castlekevin, upon whose hospitality he had thrown himself. At this time a partly dry and partly wet moat surrounded Dublin Castle, and O’Donnell was now imprisoned in the Wardrobe Tower round which the Poddle flowed. He, however, escaped again the next year through the water, and, arriving after much hardship at Glenmalure, eventually reached the North in safety.

In 1697 Lord Delvin was imprisoned in one of the gate towers for taking part in a conspiracy against the King. The Lord Deputy hearing that he meditated escape, desired Tristram Ecclesten, Constable of the Castle, to remove his prisoner from the upper to a lower storey. Not only did Ecclesten neglect to do this, but he allowed Lord Delvin to have visitors, who managed to convey him a rope, by which he escaped. Next year he surrendered himself and was pardoned.

Law Courts and Parliaments have at different times been held in the castle.

In 1689 King James made a State entry, and stayed one night there after the battle of the Boyne.

In 1783 St. Patrick’s Hall was built. In 1784 the Viceregal Lodge was bought, and since then the State apartments of the castle have only been used during the Dublin season.

DUNDANIEL CASTLE

Mr. Herbert Gillman gives a most interesting suggestion regarding this fact. He says that in all probability a winding stair was situated in the thickness of the walls at the south-east angle, the building of which has now disappeared, and that this stairway terminated at the hall or chief apartment of the castle usually occupied by the castellan. Upon the north-east angle of the tower is now the remains of a ruined turret, and Mr. Gillman thinks this is most likely to have been the protection for the egress to the allur or battlemented walk, which was reached from the main chamber by a second stairway in this part of the wall. By such an arrangement no watchman could leave his post of duty without passing through the room in question, and thus a greater protection would be secured.

We learn from the Lismore papers that the top of the fortress was reached by a very narrow “pair of stairs.”

The tower is about 55 or 60 feet high. The stone arch which is usual in such buildings covering the internal space, is in this instance situated singularly high up, being immediately beneath the top storey, and there is no mark on the lower walls to show that a second ever existed. The ground floor was used for defence as well as for the usual store, and above it beams, on stone corbels, supported two oak floors between the basement and the arch. Light and air were chiefly admitted by long openings splayed for archery. It is interesting to note also the later apertures introduced after musketry superseded the bow and arrow.

Of the former outworks of the fortress little trace remains. On the east of the tower, at about a hundred yards distant, is what an old inhabitant stated to be a disused channel of the River Manghane or Brinny. This fact is borne out, and contradicted, respectively by several maps. The fact that the field lying west of the river is still called “Castle Garden” seems to point out that the channel of the Brinny has been changed. Also the north and west walls of the fortress have the greater number of crenellated openings, which show that they were considered the most vulnerable sides.

The Down Survey map of 1656 shows a dwelling-house to the east of the castle.

In the mortar on the inside surface of the arch, the marks of the twigs are still visible which formed part of the temporary support used when building. The mortar has much less lime than is usual in such work, no doubt from the distance it would have had to be brought.

These markings, as well as the general architecture, indicate that the date 1476, which is usually stated as the time of its erection, is likely to be accurate.

It is supposed to have been built by Barry Oge, or Barry the Younger, whose family displaced the O’Mahons in this district, being a descendant of Philip de Barry, the Anglo-Norman invader.

The lands of Innishannon were granted to the Barry Oge family either in Henry III.’s or Henry IV.’s reign.

In 1449 Barry Oge forfeited the confidence of the Crown, and his lands were seized for the King. But a letter of the time states that he was there “upon the King’s portion, paying his Grace never a penny of rent.” At this time wars at home and abroad had weakened the English power in Ireland, and it is most likely that Barry Oge built Dundaniel Castle to protect the lands he was holding in spite of the forfeiture.

In 1548 mention is made of a pirate called Colle coming to Kinsale in a pinnace and marrying Barry Oge’s aunt, living in his castle, and not allowing any one to enter Kinsale. Probably this castle was Dundaniel, where the honeymoon was being spent, but the Barry Oge himself does not seem to have shared the odium in which his uncle-in-law was held.

Pirates were a very grave trouble to the south coast for many years following.

After the Desmond rebellion Barry Oge’s land was again forfeited in 1588, and bestowed upon MacCarthy Reagh, and in 1599 “Downdandier” is referred to as being in his possession.

After the siege of Dunboy Castle, in 1602, Sir George Carew relates having sent some companies of foot soldiers to MacCarthy’s Castle of Dundaniel, to remain there until the army was leaving Munster.

Eight years later the estate was purchased by the East India Company for the sum of £7,000. They constructed a dock, where they built two ships, and colonised three villages with some three hundred English settlers.

They garrisoned the castle with “four light horse, six corslets, and ten muskets, trained at the Company’s charge.”

But this form of industrious innovation was not at all to the liking of the native inhabitants, and they so harassed the company’s workers that they were obliged to appeal to the Government for protection in 1613. This does not appear to have been accorded, as a second petition in the same year asks for leave to place three or four pieces of ordnance in the castle for defence against the “wylde Irish.”

The Company, still receiving no Government aid, relinquished their enterprise. In the “Castle Garden” slag, like the refuse of ironworks is still found, which is most likely the remains of the East India Company’s industry.

After this the MacCarthys seem to have again taken possession of the castle, and a scion of the old house, named Teige O’Connor, occupied Dundaniel upon the breaking out of hostilities in 1642.

This O’Connor seems to have been a man of unqualified barbarity. A MS. in Trinity College records a most unwarrantable attack by him on five peaceful fishermen who were whipping the rivers near the stronghold. By his orders they were seized by some of the garrison and carried within the castle. Four of them were hanged at once, and the fifth offered £10 for his life. This was accepted, and some of them accompanied him to his house to receive it. Upon finding where he kept his money, they seized the whole of it, amounting to £35, and then hanged the unfortunate owner.

John Langton, writing to the Earl of Cork, gives a most graphic description of the assault upon Dundaniel Castle on the 20th of April, 1642, when the English forces marched from Bandon under the command of Lord Kinalmeaky and Captain Aderly of Innishannon.

It appears a party of rebels had seized some cattle and brutally killed four children and wounded a fifth, who were minding them near the town. The distracted parents traced the crime to the garrison of Dundaniel Castle, “neere the ould iron worke.” So horse and foot marched out, recovered the cattle save one animal, and attacked the castle.

Three of the besiegers were killed and six wounded by shot and stone from the fortress, but the musketeers posted themselves round the castle and on the neighbouring hill, and kept up a fire of small shot so that each of the defenders who looked out was killed.

They next tried to drive in the door with sledges, and these failing they set it on fire, but they had to undermine the wall in the neighbourhood before the fire became sufficient to make the door yield.

They rushed into the lower room, and the enemy fled to the top of the castle above the vault.

The attacking party then loaded themselves with corn and oatmeal which was stored in the lower chambers, and having provided themselves with plunder they set fire to the wooden floors of the lower rooms. Night came on, and they returned to Bandon with their booty.

Next morning they came back to view the scene, and found that the rebels (who had escaped the fire which did not penetrate the vault), had let themselves down from the battlements in the night time by means of ropes and other contrivances. Many lay dead on the top of the castle, and round about it.

The victors found four or five muskets and fowling pieces, some brass and iron pots and pans, and some money hidden in the oatmeal bins.

About forty of the enemy escaped and joined the Roches. They were pursued, and an encounter took place where over a hundred were killed, but the chiefs escaped.

After this the MacCarthy property was confiscated, and Dundaniel Castle was granted to Richard Earl of Cork, by whom it was leased to various tenants, and through whom it descended to the present Duke of Devonshire.